Stan's 5-Point Stance: Klopp Can Restore Fun to Man City; Come Home, Gareth Bale
In this week's five-point stance, Stan Collymore visits topics related to Jurgen Klopp, the FA Cup semi-finals, television clashes, Christian Benteke and Gareth Bale.
1. Jurgen Klopp would bring the fun back to Manchester City
Jurgen Klopp would be perfect for Manchester City in so many ways.
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He already said at a recent press conference he is not planning on a sabbatical when he leaves Dortmund at the end of the season, and it's looking like no compensation would be required.
Klopp speaks English, which is vitally important. We have seen some managers come to Britain without the language and struggle.
He has worked regularly in German television, so he will understand what is needed there with the soundbites and banter.
It would be fair to say that the administration at Manchester City in the 1980s and 1990s was a bit of a laughing stock, as they fell into the third tier of English football.
Since Sheikh Mansour came in, they have a world-class campus, world-class managers and players on huge wages and a great stadium. But I think it has lost a sense of humour. City have forgotten how to laugh and enjoy the ride.
Klopp would bridge the gap among a lot of neutral fans, which is where they want to grow the fanbase—into making City likeable.
He would have a laugh at himself and at the club's expense, and aside from the football angle, Klopp would do as much as anyone else to bring in the neutral fans.
Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini are great coaches but have the charisma of a potato between them.
Even in my own neutrality, I would quite like Klopp at the Etihad Stadium and having a laugh and a joke on Match of the Day and talkSPORT.
It would be a masterstroke for Manchester City to get him.
2. Wembley semi-finals are destroying the FA Cup
I found the 1996 FA Cup semi-final more nerve-racking than the final at Wembley in the same year.
On the day of the final against Manchester United, everything went so quickly, and it was part celebration and part business. But the semi-final was about the right to get there.
I played for Liverpool against Aston Villa at Old Trafford in a game we won quite comfortably. It was a weird feeling playing against the team you supported as a kid.
However, the job was about getting to the final, which we did, so I found the preamble around the last four was nervier than the final.
Having the semi-finals at Wembley has destroyed the FA Cup, to be honest.
It's great to enter the last stages and have big teams still taking it seriously, but venues such as Old Trafford, Villa Park and the Emirates Stadium would be far better for staging the semi-finals.
Villa have had a torrid last few years and we are still in a relegation scrap, and my mentality now is that we have got to Wembley. There will be no trophy at stake, but it feels as if it's some kind of reward at the end of a tough season, which is wrong. I'm sure I will feel differently when I get to Wembley to commentate on the game, though.
But over the course of the two semis, you have to think it will be an Arsenal-Liverpool final with everything set up for Steven Gerrard to take advantage of someone slipping in the 94th minute to score the winner. That scenario is very much on.
3. Television schedulers must reconsider Premier League Cup programming
In 2011, the FA Cup final was played on the same day as some Premier League games, with Manchester United winning the Premier League at Blackburn while City beat Stoke at Wembley.
The FA Cup semi-finals and final should have days to themselves, but because audience figures for the Cup are not as big as they once were, television schedulers are thinking they might as well have all the games on the same day.
It is going to be strange. I will be commentating on Villa vs. Liverpool but knowing that the tail end of Manchester City vs. West Ham will be coming through to me at the same time.
I don't like league games on at the same time as the FA Cup semi-finals, but I can see a point in the near future where we are heading towards football being on for 12 months of the year.
4. Tim Sherwood employing 'oldest trick in the book' to boost Christian Benteke
To be fair to Christian Benteke, he had been out for some time through injury, but when he returned under Paul Lambert, he looked off the pace and disinterested at times.
Tim Sherwood has used the oldest managerial trick in the book by putting his arm around the Villa striker and telling him he is the best.
Sherwood would, arguably, want to keep Benteke at Villa Park for next season, but with the form he is in, the club will be entertaining bids from the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal soon enough.
Usually, the trick to getting a lot out of somebody so quickly is to tell a player to do the business before the end of the season and that you will look after him by potentially letting him go. That's what happened with Luis Suarez, and I expect it to be the same with Benteke.
If he leaves Villa with the team still in the Premier League and for the requisite £20-£25 million, I would be pragmatic about a move for Benteke.
5. Gareth Bale would be perfect fit for Manchester United
The way some sections of the Real Madrid support have treated Gareth Bale is an absolute disgrace.
Let's not forget this is a very shy lad who rose through the ranks to become the top man at Tottenham. There's an argument that he will never be the top man at Real while Cristiano Ronaldo is there.
The simple solution for me would be Manchester United allowing Angel Di Maria to join Paris Saint-Germain and bring in Gareth Bale.
Wayne Rooney is, arguably, the main man at Old Trafford, but he isn't the kind of character for whom it has to be all about "Me! Me! Me!" as it is with Ronaldo at Real Madrid.
It is time for Gareth Bale to come home, and the perfect fit would be Manchester United.
